Adjustable duct hanger



Dec. 29, 1964 J. o. COLLINS 3,153,336

ADJUSTABLE DUCT HANGER Filed May 16, 1963 FIG.5

INVENTOR. J. D. Collins Attorneys United States Patent 3,163,336 ADJUSTABLE DUCT HANGER John D. Collins, Rte. 1, Sturgeon Bay, Wis., assignor of one-half to William H. Stephenson, Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Filed May 16, 1963, Ser. No. 289,965 1 Claim. (Cl. 248-41) This invention relates to improvements in adjustable duct hangers.

In heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems for houses and other buildings, fluid-carrying duct members are customarily supported from the floor joists. A duct work system may include an elongated main duct from which there are extended a plurality of branch ducts, the latter being normally located between building floor joists and parallel thereto. According to conventional practices these duct members, located between joists, are supported by wire or metal hangers and, if such hangers are to be interposed between pairs of adjacent joists and anchored thereto, an installation problem is encountered by virtue of the fact that the distances between adjacent joists lack uniformity and may vary, which prohibits the utilization of standard length duct hangers. Additionally, conventional metal or wire hangers have to be secured to the joists by separately applied nails or other securing means and each hanger, when mounted, is spanned by a duct section. Consequently, such installations according to standard practices, are inconvenient and require the attention of several workmen.

With the foregoing in mind, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an adjustable hanger for mounting duct sections for heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems, which hangers are manually adjustable to fit the distance between a pair of adjacent floor joists, which can be mounted by a single workman without the use of nails or other independent securing means, and which will provide rigid support for metal ducts or pipes of circular cross section.

A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable duct hanger of the character described which is easily extended or retracted to conform with the distance between a pair of adjacent floor joists, and which has an integral part thereof metallic tapered prongs which may be easily driven into the supporting joists for hanger mounting purposes.

A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable duct hanger which is formed with a flat top surface on which a round transversely-directed duct member may be firmly supported in an elevated position.

A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable duct hanger which is easy to manipulate, adjust and install, which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, which is strong and durable and efiicient in use, and which is well adapted for the purposes described.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists of the improved adjustable duct hanger, and its parts and combinations as set forth in the claim, and all equivalents thereof.

In the accompanying drawing in which the same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the views:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional View through a pair of In a typical heating, ventilating, or air conditioning system for a house or building there will be an elongated main fluid-carrying duct (not shown) from which there are extended a plurality of branch ducts. As shownin FIG. 1, a branch duct 10 is normally located between a pair of spaced-apart parallel floor joists 11. The present invention seeks to provide an adjustable hanger 12 which may be interposed between a pair of joists 11 in order to support a branch duct 10 which is extended transversely of the hanger. As the distances between building floor joists 11 is not always uniform, the present invention is concerned with a duct hanger which is adjustable as to length, within certain limits, so as to conform to the distance between the inside faces of a pair of adjacent joists, which hanger is also provided with integral securing means whereby it may be easily anchored at its opposite ends to the spaced-apart joists.

The hanger 12 comprises an outer rectilineal member 13 and an inner rectilineal member 14, the members 13 and 14 being telescopically associated. The outer member 13, as will be seen from FIGS. 2 and 3, comprises a flat top portion 15 from the opposite sides of which depend flanges 16, whose marginal portions are bent upwardly in reverse directions, as at 17, to provide U-shaped recesses or channels 18 (see FIG. 2). The flanges 16 are inclined outwardly, downwardly at an angle of approximately 60 degrees to the plane of the top 15.

The inner telescopic section 14 also includes a flat top portion 19 to underlie the flat top portion 15 of the section 13 and integral therewith are side flanges 20 which are inclined outwardly downwardly at an angle of about 61 degrees from the plane of the top portion 19 so as to frictionally engage within the U-shaped recesses 18 of the flanges 16. Thus, in the assembled condition of the hanger sections 13 and 14, said sections may be relatively extended or retracted to easily conform to the distance between the inner faces of a pair of adjacent joists 11.

Each hanger section 13 and 14 has affixed to its outer end portion an outwardly projecting prong or securing element indicated generally by the numeral 21 and shown in detail in FIG. 5. As shown in said figure, each prong or securing element includes a flat or'horizontal plate portion 22, an integral vertical portion 23 depending at right angles to the portion 22, and an integral prong portion 24 which is originally bent at an angle of about degrees to the plane of the vertical portion 23, and being deflectable relative thereto. Said prong portion is tapered toward its outer end as best shown in'FIG. 2. There is also formed in an intermediate portion of the prong 24 a relatively small upstruck barb 25. The flat plate portion of a securing element 21 underlies the top outer end portion of each of the hanger sections 13 and 14 and is welded or otherwise secured thereto, so that the integral prong portions 24 projects beyond the ends of their respective hanger sections.

The improved adjustable duct hanger may be readily installed by a single workman. He merely roughly adjusts it as to length, by telescopically moving the hanger sections 13 and 14 to roughly conform to the distance between the inner faces of the adjacent floor joists 11 to which the hanger 12 is to be attached. Then, by hammering against each prong or securing element 21, the tapered prong portions 24 thereof are driven into the stock of the joists 11, and during this operation the prong portions 24 tend to straighten out as shown in FIG. 1. Also, the barbs 25 serve as locking means. The vertical portions of the securing elements 21 may be formed with apertures therein through which nails may be driven or whichmay serve as pilot guide apertures. An adjustable duct hanger, as installed, forms a an elevated support for a branch duct 10, as shownrin FIG. 1, which rests transversely on the duct portion of the adjusted hanger. 7

From the foregoing description it will be evident that the improved adjustable duct hanger may be easily manipulated by a workman to conform to the distance between a pair of adjacent joists and, because of the attached securing elements at the opposite ends of the adjustable hanger, the workman may easily pound the prong portions into the stock of the joists and thus anchor the hanger in its adjusted condition. the hanger provides an adequate support for a round duct member and, besides the convenience in respect to adjusting and mounting the hanger, it is obvious that it eliminates the necessity for separate wire or metal hangers which must be secured in place and which require independent securing means. The improved adjustable duct hanger. is of simple construction, is inexpensive to manufacture and install, and is well adapted for the purposes described.

What is claimed as the invention is:

In a mounting device for supporting a duct between and in longitudinal alignment with a pair of spacedapart parallel wooden joists, said mounting device being carried by and between said joists to provide a transverse horizontal support element beneath said duct, and said device including a pair of telescopic sectionswhich are adjustable lengthwise to correspond to the spacing between difierent pairs of joists, the improved structure comprising: a pair of elongated, rectilinear sections formed of light gauge metal, each of said sections having a fiat top portion with downwardly outwardly inclined side flanges, the flanges on one of said sections being inclined at an angle slightly different from the As thus, installed,

angle of inclination of the flanges on the other section, the side flanges of one section having upturned marginal portions forming channels to frictionally longitudinally slidably receive the side flanges of the other section, the frictional engagement of said ditferently-angled, interfitting flanges permitting said sections to be yieldably maintained in a preset condition of telescopic adjustment; and a joist-penetrating deflectable prong on and projecting endwise from the outer end of each of said sections, said deflectable prongs normally being inclined upwardly and outwardly at an angle from the horizontal but being adapted to assume a substantially horizontal position when driven into said joists, and each of said prongs having an upstruck barb formed therein and adapted to prevent the withdrawal of said prongs when they are driven into joists.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 833,613 10/06 Maiser 248-57 1,021,570 3/12 Bolinger 211-1053 2,261,078 10/41 Shockey 248-216 X 2,732,162 l/56 McKinley 248-343 2,788,188 4/57 Smith et a1. 248-57 2,809,002 10/57 Rudolph 211-1053 X 2,816,726 12/57 White 248-57 3,104,087 9/63 Budnick et al 248-216 FOREIGN PATENTS 115,082 5/42 Australia.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Examiner. 

